Instructors

Born in Oxford, Martyn has been involved in martial arts since the age of eight. He originally studied Judo before switching to Shotokan Karate in 1982.

He moved to Reading in 1986. Although he now lives back in Oxford, he is still a Senior Instructor with Reading SKC. He has coached many students from beginner through to black belt and higher and even on to England Squad. A number of his students have won National and European titles.

Now a 5th Dan, Sensei Martyn holds International Instructor, Referee and Examiner qualifications. As a result he referees at local, national and European competitions. Martyn has been invited to be a guest instructor at a number of clubs in London and the South. As one of the Association’s grading examiners, he also visits other clubs to perform gradings. He regularly teaches/ trains both in Oxford and Reading.

Bjarke started karate in 1979 in Denmark when he was in high school. He was so taken with it that he took a gap year between high school and university to go to Japan to train. He stayed for just over three months, with intensive training (three times a day, six days a week) at Hashiguchi Shinobu Sensei’s Seishinkan dojo in Kyushu.

He passed black belt (1st Dan) in 1982 and was graded 2nd Dan in 1986, both by Tanaka Sensei and Bura Sensei. By then he was studying Japanese at University and went back to Japan as a graduate student for one and a half years, training at the JKA Honbu in Ebisu and experiencing the teaching of some of the great JKA instructors of the time, including Asai, Osaka, Tanaka, and Yahara.

He came to Oxford to work in the University in 1999 and started training with the Oxford University Karate Club, where he is now the Senior Member. He was graded 3rd Dan (Sandan) in 2013 by Osaka Sensei and 4th Dan (Yondan) in 2018 by Imamura Sensei.

He is also an active referee and has refereed at both national and European competitions. His work teaching Japanese linguistics takes him to Japan several times a year and he always tries to take advantage of the opportunity to train there.